About me
A little herstory
My Great-great-grandmother, Joanne Morrison, and her daughter, Margaret Hill, worked as lay midwives when they lived in the Clifden area of Southland. Joanne, so the story goes, once fell in the water during a river crossing on her way to assist a birthing mother, while another time she broke her arm when she fell off a horse. She also missed one of Margaret’s births when she was busy helping someone else. Assisting women was perhaps more physically treacherous then than now, but I am honoured to follow in my ancestress’ shoes.
My pathway to midwifery included the births of my own children, which led to involvement in local and national consumer advocacy groups and support roles at friend’s births in the late 1990’s and 2001. Eventually, I heard a clear calling to undertake midwifery training, thus, here I am, a midwife.
My goal, in working with women and their families, is to enable informed decision making, so that women can say “I chose…” rather than “I had to…”. This requires partnership, which includes lots of information sharing, where both midwife and mother are experts of their own field. My expertise includes midwifery knowledge and my experiences; a mother’s expertise includes her Self and her baby.
Coverage
In 2015 I moved from Dunedin, where I lived for almost 26 years, to Riverton. The areas I cover include: Riverton, Tuatapere, Otautau and Invercargill. If you live further away, I am happy to discuss potential arrangements. I can support you to birth at home, in a primary birthing unit (Winton) at Kew (Southland Hospital’s maternity unit).
While I work as an “independent” midwife, no midwife is an island – we have whole networks of knowledge bearers to draw upon! I work with Isobel Devery for my main backup and collegial support, with additional support available
from other midwives, the medical obstetric team at Kew, and the New Zealand College of Midwives.
Mihi
Tēnā koutou katoa. Ko Spylaw Hill te mauka. Ko Aparima te awa. Ko Ōtautau te papatūwhenua. Ko uruuru whenua Otago te turaka waewae. Kei te noho au kei Aparima inaianei, i raro i te maru o Kai Tahu. Ko Kati Pākehā te Iwi. Ko Kōtarani rātua ko Ikaraki ko Airihi ko Wīwī kā hapū. Ko Hill rātou ko Coster ko Flintoff kā whānau. O te taha tō hākoro, ko Jean rāua ko Rowland kā tupuna mātua. O te taha tō hākui, ko Ruth rāua ko Gordon kā tupuna mātua. Ko Catherine rāua ko
Ken
kā mātua. Ko Mike Stevenson te hākoro o āku tamariki. Kā mahi tamariki māua, ko Nikita rātau ko Morris, ko
Lester. Ko Petal te kuri. Ko au tēnei: Ko Vivienne Hill tōhoku ikoa. No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Greetings, everyone. Spylaw Hill is my mountain. The Aparima is my river. West Otago is my stomping ground. I live in Riverton/Aparima, now, under the mantle of Kai Tahu. I am Pakeha. Hill, Coster and Flintoff are some of the families I come from. Jean and Rowland Hill were my father’s parents. Ruth and Gordon Flintoff were my mother’s parents. Catherine is my mother, and Ken was my father. Mike Stevenson is the father of our children. We work together to nurture Nikita, Morris and Lester. Petal is my dog. This is me: Vivienne Hill is my name. Therefore, greetings, greetings, greetings to you all.